Nature and Nurture: Shire Days
by Cody Thomas
Summary: Cute and fluffy slice of life snippets of Bilbo and Ember's happy life growing up together in the Shire. All happen before the end of chapter 1 of Nature and Nurture. Life is good, no angst. Tooth Rotting Fluff, Baby Bilbo and Ember Cuteness.
1. Rainy Days

Disclaimer: I do not own anything belonging to Tolkien, the Hobbit, or LOTR. I make no money from this fanwork.

A/N:I might be an angst monger, but even I was missing the cuteness of these two being happy and adorable together. So while I work on the next chapter of the main Nature and Nurture story, I will post these bits of cuteness to keep me happy and smiling.

Rainy Day

Bilbo Baggins was completely and utterly BORED. The spring rains had come in and it had been raining for the past three days. The roads were nothing but mud, and the rain was so heavy that he couldn't even make it to the back garden and Ember's hut without getting completely drenched to the bone. He missed his friend, and he hated being stuck inside all day. So he ended up moping and getting into a rather foul mood. None of the books held his attention, he had done his puzzles a hundred times, not even his mother's cooking could cheer him up. He missed his dragon.

When luncheon came around he just couldn't stand it anymore and planned his escape. He packed the biggest picnic basket they had and bundled up completely head to toe even though it was just to the back garden. Then covering the basket with a cloth, he ran out into the storm and over to Ember's shed. He didn't bother knocking, and dashed straight inside to a wave of soothing heat. The fire crackled up nice and high, and Ember perked up from his nap with a cheerful sounding "Bilbo!"

Moments later he was nearly bowled off his feet with a happy dragon determined to pin him to the ground no matter how cold and wet his outer layer was. Bilbo was pressed to the ground for several minutes while his dragon proved just how much he had been missed as well.

Bilbo and Ember had a lovely indoor picnic together in the shed, then spent the afternoon making more suncatchers to hang up around the space. Eventually Ember nudged him into the comfy old armchair his mother had inherited from one of her uncles that she had let Bilbo keep. Ember pressed a well worn book into his hands and Bilbo read to Ember about fantastic adventures in the wide world, and mountains, and the ocean. All the things Bilbo had never seen, but dreamed about going off and exploring one day the way his mother had. But he wouldn't do it alone, no, he would take Ember with him. Together they would see everything the world had to offer, and have the grandest tales to tell when they came home.

When that was done Bilbo made up silly stories and they played with clay and beads until it started to get dark. As the sun started setting Bilbo knew he needed to get back, but he was reluctant to go. He promised to come back tomorrow and Ember seemed very pleased with that. Bilbo kissed his dragon on the snout and wished him good night as Bungo came by with Ember's dinner and to replenish the firewood.

Bilbo was in much better spirits as he went home to his own dinner, and that was when the rain began to lighten. After supper it finally stopped, and he dreamed about running through the market with Ember while the warm sunshine kissed his cheeks.


	2. Spring and Scones

**Spring and Scones**

It was the Spring First Planting festival, and Bilbo had gotten special permission to bring Ember along with him because his dragon finally understood good manners and used them very well. Ember was now three, and was about the size of a very large dog. But unlike a dog, Ember had absolutely no problem with having weight on his back, and oftentimes insisted on carting Bilbo around places simply because he could go faster.

They spent the day romping through fields together, Bilbo casting seeds about and Ember dashing off to catch rabbits, gophers, moles and mice by the dozens, his keen hearing able to hear their heartbeats or scratching feet under the ground, and his sense of smell able to scent them from halfway across the field to their very burrows. Ember loved the spring and fall times specifically because of how well he was fed off of the fields. A flock of very bold pheasant had descended on the fields last summer, nearly ravaging the wheat crop, and Ember had not only eaten his fill, but he had caught every last one of the birds and shared them with Bilbo and his family.

Today Ember stuck to eating just the smaller pests and bringing Bilbo every rabbit he caught. By the end of the day Bilbo had a pile of thirty-five coneys to try and haul home after the big parties each field held when their field was done being seeded, in order to thank all of the people who came to help. So the lot of them were stuffed full for Elevensies, Luncheon, and Afternoon Tea. By the time the party for Dinner came around he couldn't manage more than a few nibbles, a bowl of creamy chicken soup, and some lovely herbed dumplings.

Once the work was done for the day, Bilbo collected the rabbits that he had set to draining, tied them together in pairs and slung them over Ember's back before beginning to make their way home. On the way they gave two pairs to each of the four field owners they had worked in, six to the Gamgees since they had a large family, and another pair to Widow Hardfoot who lived alone at the very bottom of the hill, and was getting on in years, so making it to market several times a week wasn't very easy for her these days. She sent him off with three of her famous 'Spring Fairy' scones made with floral water and all kinds of flowers, like violets, lavender, roses, chamomile, and tansy, then topped with candied flowers and served with honey butter and a nice dollop of homemade rose petal jelly, which she packed little jars of onto the side of the cloth she wrapped them up in. Widow Hardfoot's scones were coveted in the Shire, she only ever tended to make them for a wedding gift to a new bride, so Bilbo considered himself most fortunate to get some.

Bilbo sincerely thanked her and then continued on home with Ember and the remaining nineteen coneys. He and his father took care of the rabbits, and then got washed up, while Ember went off for a fire bath, and Belladonna made them all dinner.

Bilbo, his mother, and his father all had one of the special scones each after dinner with a warm cup of dark tea. Ember was curled up by the hearth and Bilbo was leaning against his side, petting the dragon's head in his lap and listening to the gentle sounds of his father's voice as he read aloud to them all, while his mother's knitting needles clicked away quietly on a new pair of socks. Ember rumble purred as Bilbo found just the right spot to scritch, and traced the golden bracelet with the cabochons on it, now actually able to fit as such since Ember had grown so much.

Bilbo eventually dozed off there, wrapped up in all the warmth, comfort, happiness, and love, that a hobbit could ever want or ask for. It had been a very good day.


	3. Sick

**Sick**

Chapter Summary: Bilbo is ill. Ember does not approve.

A/N: Contains small bits of meta and backstory on certain elements revealed in chapter 2 of Nature and Nurture. No spoilers though. Not necessary to have read the story to understand.

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Bilbo was dying, he was certain of it. He couldn't remember a time he could have possibly been more miserable than this. He was hot and cold at the same time, he couldn't breathe from congestion, but he also couldn't blow his nose either because it was too stuffy, and every time he tried, the pressure in his head got a hundred times worse until he thought it would surely burst. Every inch of him ached, and he felt yucky and gross and had almost no appetite, which worried his mother when he barely took a very few sips of soup or tea, and the lack of food made him feel very very weak. But at least he had stopped throwing up finally.

They had made him up a bed in the sitting room so he could be close to the warmth of the fire. Belladonna could also keep the doors closed to keep the heat and moisture in after she set a large pot to simmering near the fire with hot water and herbs in it to help ease his breathing.

When another day passed and Bilbo still felt hot and parched with very little urge to eat, he woke up from a nap with the doctor coming into his sick room. She approved of the heat of the room and the moisture from the simmering pot, but disapproved of how long his fever had gone on for. She listened closely to his heart and his lungs, felt under his jaw, over his back right below his ribs, and took his pulse as she asked a lot of questions, such as how often had he been needing the chamberpot. She instructed his mother in arranging a cool tub of water to be brought in that Bilbo absolutely did NOT want to have anything to do with the moment he touched it, since it seemed like the water was freezing cold knives against his fevered skin.

They set him in it regardless, after they wrapped him up in soaking cold towels. He then just had to sit there miserably in the water and shiver. Whenever the towels began to warm up from his feverish skin, she poured more cool water over them until they were chilled again, and he just shivered and shook violently until his teeth were chattering so hard it hurt, and it felt like he would surely break into pieces from the shaking. Eventually the shivering lessened and when the doctor was satisfied with however cold he had become, she took him out of the tub, dried him off, and only allowed him to wear underwear, no pajamas. She even took away the comforter, just letting him wrap up in the sheet and a thin summer blanket that seemed to do nothing to warm him up. They put sharp smelling poultices on his chest that must contain eucalyptus and mint from the cold feel and the astringent in it that made his eyes water even though he couldn't properly smell it at the moment. He was forced to drink or choke down cups of nasty medicines, and tinctures, and even take a few doses of something that was even more bitter than willow bark tea. But gradually he began feeling a little bit better, and after she pressed against certain parts of his face, his nose finally unblocked and he could actually blow his nose and breathe again, so he couldn't truly hate her.

Once he got a whole bowl of soup and a soft crumb of bread down, regardless of his lack of appetite, she wrote out a list of instructions for his mother, with things on what to look for to prove he was recovering. She said a cool wet rag should be placed on his head at all times until the fever broke completely, and then and only then could he put on pajamas and wrap up in a comforter again.

By midnight he broke out into a full body cold sweat and was given another cool bath that he hated. A few hours after that he actually felt a bit hungry, and ate the remnants of what he knew was a lovely vegetable stew that his mother had made for supper, along with two decent sized rolls with butter. He wished he could have smelled or tasted it properly. He had weird dreams all the rest of the night, but when he woke up in the morning he was famished and apparently his fever had finally broken for good. He only managed three of the standard meals that day, but it was much improved compared to the several days before, and best of all, when he woke up after elevensies he thought he had been given his comforter back at first since he was so nice and warm. But it was even better than that. His parents had moved him to the bed in Adroushan, he had been unable to see his dragon since he'd gotten ill, even though he had asked for him every day. Ember could no longer fit inside of Bag End, and Bilbo had been far too ill to leave the Smial. But now Ember was curled up all around his bed and was resting his head on Bilbo's lap. Bilbo was buried in all kinds of treasures from head to toe, the warm metal seeming to nearly hum against his skin.

"I missed you." Bilbo murmured weakly, trying and failing to raise his hand up out of the treasures in order to pet Ember.

"Scared me." Ember said with a note of distress. "Six days!"

"I'm sorry. I am feeling better now though."

Ember lifted his head and tipped it towards the side table. "Drink." He said, indicating the large mug sitting there.

"What is it?" Bilbo asked. He did not want to take any more medicine.

"Magic. Make you well."

"I really don't want any more medicine-"

"No medicine. Magic. Drink!" Ember insisted, and Bilbo struggled to sit up so he could take it with a much put upon sigh.

Ember would not let the issue go until he was appeased, the dragon fussing over him relentlessly were the consequences that Bilbo always suffered whenever he went off and worried his dragon. But when he brought the cup to his lips and drank a tiny sip just to brace himself for the taste, it was not more bitter or sour medicine. In fact it tasted like the sweetest, ripest summer fruits dipped in caramel and honey, and the feel of soft meadow grass and wildflowers on a warm day. It was blazing bonfires and birthday parties, and a nice mug of spiced mulled cider in the library on a crisp fall day. It tasted of warmth and safety, and every good and happy thing he had ever known, all wrapped up in the feeling of being tucked in against his dragon, safe and sound, warm and protected from all the world. He had no trouble whatsoever drinking the whole thing.

Bilbo fell deeply asleep again soon after, and had one of his favorite recurring dreams. He and Ember were building a house together out of big strong bricks. The bricks were made of the happy memories from all the days they spent together. Each brick held a single memory that was sealed with a bit of fire magic in the center of them, so they always glowed with an inner light and warmth. Love, care, happiness, magic, friendship, joy, and laughter were mixed into the mortar before their happy memories were stacked and set into place and made into part of their future.

Tonight they were building the fireplace, and those bricks were made with memories of times spent around fire, reading or dancing around one, having good meals, taking a nap in Adroushan, anything that involved it. They had to set the foundation for the fireplace first. Ember dug the hole, then filled it with sand and gravel before mixing up a very thin cement that he placed a drop of his blood into before pouring it into the sand and gravel. He breathed fire to dry and set it, and then even more magic after that, until the stone glowed with an inner white hot heat. Ember scratched a symbol into it as it cooled, then hid the foundation with another thin layer of cement before they began making bricks. Bilbo mixed the clay, they both shaped the bricks, and pressed the memories into them, and Ember fired them. Afterwards they both built up the happiest times and sealed each brick with it, as if it were a glaze. Whenever they touched a finished brick it would glow and they could relive the happy memory, so if they were ever sad they had only to come here and touch one.

It was a lovely little cottage that they were building just for the two of them, and as Bilbo laid another brick, and another with mortar, he also knew that the house would never be fully completed, because they would always make more memories together, create an endless supply of more bricks, and always have a new room that could be added on or enlarged. It was a lovely thought.

When they finished, Ember lit a fire and they curled up in front of it. Ember dropped a little tongue of flame into Bilbo's tea as if it were a sugar cube, and Bilbo drank it down, warmed from the inside out, happy, smiling, and content. He fell asleep in his dream and woke up feeling better than he could ever remember feeling.

Bilbo never noticed it of course, but from that day on, he never got illnesses of any kind ever again.


	4. Hide And Seek

**Hide And Seek**

Chapter Summary: It gets harder for Ember to hide as he gets bigger.

A/N: One of my faves so far.

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When Ember was very small, Hide and Seek was a very challenging game to play for Bilbo. The little dragon could somehow hide in the tiniest of places, and whenever it was Ember's turn to seek, the little dragon had an uncanny knack of being able to find Bilbo no matter how well he hid. As time passed they spread out their game to all of Hobbiton, and the odds got a bit easier for Bilbo. Because as his dragon grew, he had fewer and fewer places to hide. Bilbo always got a giggle out of finding Ember in strange places like hay stacks and a pumpkin patch, the corn field had been a good idea to be honest.

One time Ember had nearly gotten the better of him. He hid under a few freshly shorn sheep fleece and then hid in the middle of the flock. But his long red tail and his wings eventually gave him away as the sheep moved and the fleece fell off as he popped up to see what was going on. It was one of his more clever hiding places. But with that bright red hide he tended to stand out fairly easily, even more so as he grew.

One day Ember got away with tricking him. The dragon rolled around in the biggest mud puddle he could find and then hid among a bunch of man sized horses. He kept his wings tucked in tight and laid down in the very back of the field trying to pose like a horse. It actually worked, and Bilbo passed the field three times, and never saw him. Finally Bilbo gave up and Ember bounded over when Bilbo called the all clear, and covered his hobbit in flakes of half dried mud as he shook his hide clean. Whenever Bilbo found Ember, he always placed a hug around his neck, and a kiss on his snout, with a happy sounding 'found you' before they headed home together from another adventure filled day.


	5. Flying Lessons

**Flying Lessons**

Chapter Summary: Ember learns to fly, and he and Bilbo get into mischief of course.

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Bilbo was a hobbit, and hobbits belonged with their feet firmly on the ground, thank you very much. But Ember was so excited when he was finally able to fly that he refused to not share this great and wonderful new thing he could do with his best friend. They started small, mostly to get Ember used to carrying not only his own weight while flying, but Bilbo's as well. They glided a few feet off of the ground and then landed a few seconds later, and Bilbo was fine with those things. But as Ember grew stronger, the flights became longer and the height became greater. Ten feet was much too high for a typical hobbit to take, but Bilbo wanted to share this with Ember, so he clenched his teeth and tried his best not to scream in fright. But he was also a very young and adventurous hobbit with a Tookish streak a mile wide. Once his mind and heart caught onto the fact that he was as safe with this as he was with everything else involving Ember, his fears about heights melted away and he started doing what every Tookish young fauntling of the Shire eventually does. Encourages mischief. Soon Bilbo and Ember could be found gliding low enough to graze the tops of the grain, and made up a game about trying to swoop down and spook the crows or snatch the hats off of unsuspecting farmer's heads while on the wing.

It was all very great fun, and while poor Bungo nearly had a heart attack the first time he saw it, Belladonna watched their fun with a small smile on her face, and said she had always known that Bilbo would take after her. While several of the hobbit fauntlings would often get rides through the town for fun on Ember's back, Belladonna was the only other hobbit besides Bilbo who ever went on a flight with Ember. She said watching them had reminded her of the time she flew with the Great Eagles, who had gone much higher. Bilbo and Ember took this as a challenge. Ember especially was determined to not be outdone by a bird of all things. Within months they were seeing how high they could climb, insisting on trying to touch the clouds at the very least, as Belladonna had done. They often came home with Bilbo windswept and ruddy cheeked and pleased as a bird about it.

The day they finally made it into the clouds, they both discovered that clouds were actually cold and wet, not warm and fluffy, as Belladonna had insisted they were. After they landed acting happy and delighted about how fluffy they were to touch, they both insisted Belladonna should get to touch the clouds again. So she got on and Ember took back off for the clouds. When they finally got back half an hour later, Belladonna's dress was soaked clear through, her hair was limp and drippy and she was shivering but happy. She pounced on Bilbo for tricking her, and tickled him fiercely, then insisted they both get warm and dry and have a good stiff cup of tea. Eventually Bilbo and Ember made it high above the clouds, but Belladonna was happy with how high she had gone, and from then on just made sure that Bilbo had a nice warm cloak, hat, and mittens, a sturdy saddle, and a bridle to have something to hold onto securely. She then left her adventuresome son and his dragon to their fun.


	6. Yes and No

**Yes and No**

Chapter Summary: Ember needs to learn good manners.

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"Ember! Let go! It's not yours!"

Bilbo went tumbling back as he finally wrangled his father's spectacles out of the little dragon's grasp. A moment later there was a pitiful wailing cry of sorrowful affront from the little dragon that Bilbo had once more taken away his favorite thing. Bilbo felt horrible when Ember began crying pitifully, and truly, you have never heard anything more heart wrenching than a crying baby dragon. Bilbo cuddled the little one close and comforted him as he took the spectacles back to his father and handed them over, the wires only slightly bent out of shape.

"There there, I know. It's alright. But you can't take things that aren't yours Ember. Stealing is bad. You have to be good, and good dragons don't steal." Bilbo gave Ember a chicken leg and a soothing scritching over his head and back until he calmed down. Bilbo took the little dragon into his room and let Ember examine all his toys, but when the little dragon got that same look in his eyes when he spotted Bilbo's marbles, Bilbo had an idea.

"If you want something, Ember, you have to learn to ask, and you have to learn how to share."

For the next several months Bilbo painstakingly taught Ember how to ask for things by rearing up on his hind legs, clasping his front claws together, and making a 'prrrrrreeeeee' chirping sound. It was the cutest thing he had ever seen, and it worked miracles on the unsuspecting people of Hobbiton who couldn't part with their treats fast enough when Ember asked for things in such an adorable way. Bilbo rewarded him every time he used his good manners, and it worked, because Ember was a very smart dragon. But then Bilbo also taught him the meaning of the words 'Yes' and 'No', until Ember realized that just because he asked for something didn't always mean he would get it if it belonged to someone else.

After that, Bilbo tackled the extremely grueling task of making Ember give him things that he might not necessarily wish to part with, until he could make Ember hand him anything that the little dragon had picked up and he said 'no' to. It was very much a long and difficult fight, and Ember was not happy in the least to hand anything over without much protestation and crying, but gradually the dragon got better and better at it, rewarded with food, petting, compliments, and treats, until he realized that the less fuss or time it took to hand over whatever had been a 'No', the bigger the treat Bilbo gave him was, and his tantrums tapered off.

Bilbo knew it couldn't just be him that Ember listened to either, so he had his parents do the same thing, and even let Ember see them telling Bilbo 'No' to things just for show, like sweets and toys and such, just to show it wasn't just Ember who had to follow the rules. When even Bilbo's mother or father could tell the dragon no, and he would almost immediately give up the item he had taken with minimal fuss, Bilbo decided to reward Ember for being so very good and working so hard.

He took his little wagon all down the hill and around town, stopping at every home in Hobbiton, where he politely asked if they had anything shiny they no longer had any use for, didn't matter if it was broken or whole. They were happy to load him up with junk and mathoms and broken things alike. His favorite had been the brass hand mirror whose glass had broken and never been replaced. It was a hodge-podge assortment of things he returned home with, but finally Bilbo thought that he had a rather good collection of things. He set them all out in front of the fireplace and brought Ember in to look at them. Every time Ember asked for something, Bilbo said 'Yes Ember' and the little dragon happily ran back with his treasure to the fireplace and placed it where he liked the look of it best.

Eventually the pile had all made its way into the hearth, and as Bilbo watched his dragon curl up so fiercely proud around his little hoarded mountain of shiny things, Bilbo knelt down and held out the final items. Six pairs of broken spectacles. Ember's eyes went wide, and you could tell that he wanted them badly, but he had learned not to ask for them because it was always a 'No' item.

"Yes Ember. These are yours, just yours. They are Ember's spectacles. You get them for being so good and learning your manners. Yes Ember. Yes."

And the little dragon chirped in joy, grabbed the glasses and put them all on the very top of his pile. He then rushed out of the fireplace and loved and purred all over Bilbo, before running back to the pile for a moment to happily chirp and coo over them, before heading straight back to Bilbo over and over again, overjoyed with his treasures.

Bilbo was very glad he had such a happy, and much more well behaved dragon. He would teach Ember proper Hobbit manners yet.


	7. Party Invitations

**Party Invitations**

Chapter Summary: Bilbo and Ember go to a birthday party.

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Ember was getting invited to come along to places with Bilbo the bigger he got, since he had very nice manners these days. He was friends with nearly all of the children, and they loved having the dragon come with Bilbo to birthday parties. So these days, a separate invitation was sent to Ember as was only polite. Marina Took's birthday was the 16th of Rethe and Ember couldn't WAIT to go.

Her grandparents had gone on adventures together in their youth while they were courting, and learned recipes far to the south, past Rohan and into place like Harad and even further south. When they came back they knew things that no other hobbit knew and they taught those recipes to their children. Nowadays they only shared those delicious, coveted dishes on special occasions like birthdays and weddings.

Bilbo and Ember actually had a favorite dish in common, a creamy fish stew that rumour has it was so good that when Marina's father tasted it for the first time, he proposed immediately. Bilbo believed the story could very easily be true.

They played games and stuffed themselves utterly full on delicious foods, and Ember polished off a whole platter of sausages on his own, but they still had room for cake and rice pudding, and the adults got into the sweet homebrew made from corn, which could give the Gamgee's own homebrew a run for its money.

After dessert, everyone received flower crowns made with the pretty spring blossoms, that had a little charm for luck on the side of it. The children received little carved toys, and the adults got a lovely set of embroidered handkerchiefs that she had done herself. Ember received a merry little windchime that had a little dragon charm hanging from the knocker. Ember liked it so much that he trotted Marina around for half an hour, taking little running jumps with his wings spread so that he glided up off the ground for a few moments until she was laughing in delight. Ember couldn't fly YET, but Bilbo had a feeling he would be starting to soon.

They had a very happy day and Bilbo even had a dance with her when he no longer felt full enough to pop. As the sun set and they were heading back home, Ember nudged him off the road and into the trees. He had the whole pot of fish stew pressed between his wing and body on one side, and a basket of sausages, fresh bread, birthday cake and rice pudding hidden on the other side that had a bowl and spoon for Bilbo to use as well.

While stealing in general was bad, nicking leftovers of your favorite foods from a party was actually encouraged in the Shire so that the hosting family didn't have to try and finish a feast's worth of things on their own. It was always first come first serve though, and coveted items tended to go quickly. Ember had been clever and must have nicked it pretty quickly. The hot cast iron pot gave him no bother whatsoever, unlike others who would have just tried to take a bowl or two. Everyone tended to stay happy as long as you returned the dishes promptly and clean.

"Ember you are utterly brilliant!" Bilbo exclaimed and sat down for a second round of feasting together, though they saved enough for Bilbo's parents, but only because they loved them, and Bilbo was a good and kind son.

Bilbo and Ember watched the sunset, stuffed full and hardly able to move. The little carved dragon toy he'd received from Marina went on his windowsill by his bed, while the windchime Ember had gotten went right outside his front door, so that he could lounge in the open doorway and listen to it while he napped in the sun.

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A/N: This chapter is a special birthday gift to the always awesome naru894. Happy birthday my dear! The cuddle wife and I actually sat down and figured out when March 8th was in Shire Reckoning. The 15th of Rethe, in case that was a thing you needed to know. Hobbits have a crazy calendar.


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